A Too Convenient Marriage

‘I do well enough,’ Justin answered with a shrug. The chaise was Philip’s. Justin had been forced to sell his to repay a few investors after the ship had gone down. The loss of his fine vehicle and the matching grey horses had hurt almost as much as the loss of his business.

‘And what exactly is it you do?’ Lord Rockland enquired.

‘I’m in business with a man who loans clients money. I investigate the quality of their collateral and assist my employer in obtaining payment if their debt goes unpaid.’

‘It certainly explains your skill with your fists.’

He pinned the duke with a sharp look. ‘I don’t extract payments in such a way. I use it to defend myself against uncalled-for attacks.’

‘My apologies again for last night.’ Lord Rockland swirled the brandy in his glass, then took a sip. ‘Our emotions were running high after my daughter’s ill-advised adventure. I’m afraid neither my son nor I was thinking straight.’

‘I see.’ Justin didn’t, but he could play along. ‘I don’t intend to continue in my present occupation. I mean to establish myself as a wine merchant, once I have sufficient funds.’

It wasn’t a subtle hint, but he wanted the man to come to the point. He didn’t have time to lounge in Grosvenor Square, drinking a duke’s brandy all day.

‘I see.’ The older man tapped the side of his glass. ‘Then allow me to propose an offer, one, as a man of business, you’re sure to appreciate.’

Justin took a deep drink, savouring the rich liquor, then set the glass aside. ‘I’m listening.’

‘As you might know from gossip, Miss Lambert is not my legitimate daughter.’

Justin hadn’t known, nor did he care. Half the people he dealt with were born without the vicar’s blessing. It didn’t matter to him.

‘Before her mother died, I promised to give Susanna a thousand-pound dowry if she married a gentleman I approved of,’ Lord Rockland explained.

‘How very generous of you.’ And worrying. He was starting to wonder what exactly Lord Rockland intended to offer him.

‘I’m a man who takes responsibility for my mistakes.’ He enjoyed another sip before continuing. ‘Susanna, as you might have noticed, is a headstrong woman who often acts before she thinks. It’s made finding her a respectable husband difficult, even with the promise of her dowry. She nearly threw away the money last night with her impulsive behaviour and now I must hurry to rectify the situation before all is lost.’

‘For you, or for her?’ Justin asked, suspecting it wasn’t the young lady Lord Rockland was worried about as much as the taint her escapade might leave on his family.

‘For both of us, and you. I’m prepared to give you Miss Lambert’s thousand-pound dowry if you agree to marry her.’

Justin stopped the glass halfway to his lips and stared at the man from across the aromatic brandy. ‘You want me to marry your daughter?’

‘Assuming you’re not already married.’

‘I’m not.’ Justin frowned, the memory of Helena’s rejection stinging as much as his knuckles after the beating he’d given Lord Sutton last night. Justin took a long drink, barely tasting it as it burned past his tongue. It was her loss, not his.

‘Good. As a man of business, I’m sure you won’t dismiss such a tempting offer so lightly and will keep the details of last night private. I possess grave concerns about Lord Howsham’s ability to remain silent on the matter.’ Lord Rockland sighed as though they were discussing a troublesome horse which wouldn’t trot properly and not a young woman and her future. ‘It’s only a matter of time before Susanna’s reputation is called into question and all chances of her making a more advantageous match are gone.’

Justin opened his fingers over the glass, then closed them, one by one, trying to ignore Lord Rockland’s unintended insult. Justin was no nobleman’s son, only the common son of a man who’d served Philip’s father the same way Justin served Philip. Despite the way Justin’s father and Helena derided him for wanting to be more, he wasn’t about to make something of himself off the back of some young lady. ‘She doesn’t need a husband. She needs a better chaperon.’

Lord Rockland’s chiselled cheek twitched. ‘I don’t think you clearly understand what I’m offering you.’

‘I understand exactly. Money and a connection to the Rockland family. I know what these things are worth. I also understand the price your daughter would pay for me to obtain them. I won’t ask it of any woman.’

Lord Rockland gaped at Justin as though it’d never occurred to him Justin might refuse what he considered a magnanimous gesture. ‘I assure you, she’s quite amenable to the idea.’

‘You don’t know me, she doesn’t know me and neither of you know what kind of man I am.’ Although Justin was coming to understand clearly what kind of family this was.

‘From what I’ve seen, you’re a man of honour and integrity who’ll treat my daughter as well as any man is expected to treat his wife.’

Lord Rockland’s love and concern for his child was enough to make Justin sick. ‘No.’

‘Perhaps if you were to speak to her, you might see how much you have in common?’ Lord Rockland rose and strode to the door leading to an adjoining room and pulled it open. ‘Susanna, please join us.’

‘I’m afraid you’re mistaken.’ Justin stood. He had better things to do than sit here and humour this ridiculous idea.

Then, in a swish of silk skirts the young woman appeared and whatever it was he needed to do today was forgotten.

If Miss Lambert’s eyes had captivated him in the dim light of the lanterns hanging from the trees above Vauxhall Gardens, in the sunlight, they blazed with a green which nearly knocked him out of his boots. She strode closer, sparing not a glance for her father, but focusing entirely on Justin. The rich chestnut hair framing her face bounced a touch with each step, making the soft ringlets graze the long line of her neck and high cheeks. He envied the curls, especially the one resting over the swell of her breast. The creaminess of her skin was just visible beneath the fine netting of her fichu while the rest of her supple roundness was covered by a brown-silk gown in a tone to match her hair. It heightened the colour of her skin with a warmth he longed to bury his face in and inhale.

Despite the allure of her full curves, it was her eyes which continued to command him. They were intelligent, quick, hiding her thoughts, but telling him they existed, and not one was concerned with the frippery of dresses or gossip. She was playing the demure, dutiful daughter for her father’s sake, but Justin caught the steely resolve beneath the polished manners. It was the will of a woman with a plan she was as eager to implement as Justin was to establish his wine business. She’d been foolish last night, but Justin sensed it was a momentary weakness, like his proposal to Helena or the five pounds he’d spent on a bottle of wine last week, or what he was very near to agreeing to do.

He settled his shoulders, determined to resist the fleeting temptation of an attractive woman, confident she couldn’t change his mind about this match, even if the part of him low down wanted her to win him over.

‘I’ll leave you two to discuss the matter,’ Lord Rockland offered.

The duke’s words broke the spell cast by Miss Lambert’s eyes.

‘And then cry foul once the two of us are left alone. No, thank you,’ Justin protested.

It wasn’t the first time a father had tried to get him alone with his daughter in an attempt to snare her a husband.

‘I won’t cry foul. She’s been compromised enough already,’ Lord Rockland flung off as he slid the doors closed behind him.

‘Quite a charming father you have there,’ Justin remarked.

Miss Lambert dropped her hands from where she’d been demurely holding them in front of her and rolled her pretty eyes. ‘He’s the envy of the ton.’

She walked over to the small selection of drinks and picked up the brandy. She splashed a tiny drop into a glass, then tossed back the contents, shivering as it went down.

If this was meant to shock Justin it did, but there was something in the confidence of her movement, the surety with which she was executing what he felt was a clear plan, he had to admire.

‘Shall I pour you some more?’ she asked.

‘No.’ He needed a clear head for this encounter. ‘I gather you’re in favour of your father’s suggestion.’

She set the glass down with a clunk. ‘How very intuitive of you.’

‘It’s part of my job to guess what people will do before even they know. It helps me to avoid trouble.’

Her full lips turned down at the corners. ‘I’m not the trouble my father has made me out to be if that’s what’s worrying you.’

‘I’m not worried about anything, since I have no intention of marrying you.’

‘But you will.’ She crossed her arms under her breasts and the slight rise of the full mounds was distracting.

‘I assure you, I won’t.’ Justin forced himself to focus, surprised by the ease with which Miss Lambert affected him.

‘I don’t think you fully comprehend the benefits of the agreement.’ She rolled one graceful hand in the air between them, her nails short and neatly buffed.

‘Oh, Miss Lambert, trust me, I understand very well the benefits.’ He caressed her lithe body with his eyes, following the faint trace of a small waist and rounded hips beneath the flowing dress. He took the last fortifying sip of brandy to ease the heat rising inside him. He needed to reason with his brain, not his member.

She squared herself at him, sure in herself and her goal. Her confidence was currently her most appealing and annoying trait. ‘I heard most of the conversation between you and my father. I know you think I don’t want this marriage, but I do.’

‘You don’t even know me. For all you know I could be a drunk who likes to beat women.’

‘You aren’t such a man. You have too much integrity. If you didn’t, you’d have accepted my father’s offer without bothering to talk to me, set a date for the wedding and rushed through to the bedding as fast as possible.’

Justin tipped his empty glass to her. She was flattering him, a somewhat effective tactic. ‘Perhaps, but even with you standing here demanding we wed I won’t take you.’

‘What if I could be of use to you?’

He winked at her. ‘I don’t need to be married for that.’

She frowned then, the small pursing of her lips as tempting as the subtle rise and fall of her chest.

‘I mean in business. I can make my father increase his offer, especially since he’s so eager to be rid of me.’ A pain Justin recognised rippled through her eyes. She wasn’t alone in enduring the condemnations of a demanding and stubborn father. Justin knew a little something about it, too. ‘A word of support from him will have clients lining up at your door.’

‘I’m aware of this, Miss Lambert, but it’s not so much the clients I’m worried about as it is my wife.’ He set his glass down. ‘I don’t want to look around one day and find you back in Lord Howsham’s bed or in some other man’s.’

For the first time since she’d entered the room her eyes dropped from his and a flush of red washed over her creamy skin. Her shame didn’t last as she raised her head to meet his gaze again with a will as seductive as the faint scent of jasmine gracing her skin. ‘I don’t blame you for being suspicious of me and my motives, so I’ll be as honest with you as you’ve been with me. I didn’t run after Lord Howsham out of lust. I did it because I believed he’d offer me the things Lord Rockland never has, the freedom of my own home and a place as something more than a bastard. You’re worried I’ll chase after every lord who comes my way. The truth is I want nothing more to do with any of them, not even my father. If you agree to the marriage, I will maintain contact with my father in an effort to help you. I could be quite an asset to your wine business.’

‘What do you know of trade, Miss Lambert?’ She didn’t look like one to sit behind a counter all day or wander through a cellar in search of a bottle.

‘My mother’s family owned a wine shop in Oxfordshire. I assure you, I didn’t spend my girlhood learning to draw on plates, but to manage customers, inventory and accounts at my mother’s side. She was an excellent negotiator. It’s how she managed to extract Lord Rockland’s promise to support me, even after she passed.’ She swallowed hard. Justin pitied her and wanted to reach out and take her in his arms to soothe her. His grief for his own mother was as raw as hers, but he didn’t move. ‘I can garner for you the same type of deal.’

‘Can you now?’ She was certainly more experienced in the wine business than he’d imagined. He wondered what other surprising traits and talents she possessed.

She strolled over to him, allure and innocence wrapped up in the slow swing of her hips. ‘Judging from your willingness to start your own business, you’re a man not averse to taking risks. A betting man as some might say.’

‘I’ve been known to wager from time to time.’ Justin remained still, as intrigued by her offer as he was tempted by her full lips and what they would feel like beneath his.

‘Then let me offer you one now. I’ll prove to you today I can be an asset to both you and your potential venture. If you’re suitably impressed, you’ll agree to my father’s offer.’

‘And if I’m not?’ He was ashamed to admit it, but she was already halfway to impressing him up the church aisle. However, he wasn’t ready to tie himself to this strange woman, not yet.

‘Then you’re free to go. I’ll leave the decision up to you.’

* * *

Susanna waited for the tall gentleman with the brown hair to answer, ignoring how her chest caught every time his amber eyes caressed the length of her body. Lord Howsham’s hurried, fumbling touch hadn’t made her insides melt as they were doing now with Mr Connor standing mere feet away. He smelled of leather, sawdust and musk, a more masculine scent than the lemongrass preferred by the society fops. It wrapped around her, drawing her to him until she almost forgot it was she who was here to win him over. She was close, her victory revealing itself in the hold of his eyes on hers and the twitch of his jaw above his cravat as he struggled between detached uninterest and desire. For all his rejection of the proposal, he wanted her as much as Lord Howsham had, only this man possessed the self-control to deny himself. She wished Lord Howsham had done the same and not pressed her into an intimacy she hadn’t truly wanted. However, if he’d shown some restraint, she wouldn’t be in this position, with her freedom only a conversation away. ‘What do you say, Mr Connor? Are you willing to accept my challenge?’

He settled his muscled thighs covered by buckskin breeches against the edge of a small table and crossed his arms over his wide chest, his ease of manner both annoying and rousing. He reminded her of a tiger she’d once seen at the Tower lounging in the sun, relaxed but laced with an edge of danger one could almost touch. ‘How do you know I won’t simply say I will and then walk away?’

‘Because you’re the kind of man who keeps his word once it’s given.’

He tilted his head in silent agreement. ‘Are you the kind of lady who keeps hers?’

‘I am.’ She raised her chin, determined, in spite of the actions which had landed her in this muddle, to demonstrate her integrity. She might have made a drastic misstep with Lord Howsham, but she wasn’t a woman to cuckold a man or break her vow once it was given. ‘I promise you, when I change your mind, you won’t regret it.’

He tossed a cocky smile at her which made her toes curl in her half-boots. ‘No, I don’t believe I will.’

She held out her hand to him. ‘Then we have a deal?’

He eyed her fingers with the same amusement he’d demonstrated during their entire discussion. Embarrassment eroded her confidence as her hand hung in the air waiting for him to take it. For all his glib lightheartedness, she sensed the serious streak lying just beneath the humour. He was considering her offer and whether or not she was worth the risk. He wouldn’t be the only one taking a chance with this challenge. She would be, too, but it was worth it if it meant ending her time with the Rocklands and escaping the taint of being a mistake and an unwanted intrusion.

At last he slid his hand in hers, his hold hot and hard. Her heart began to race and she took a deep breath to steady herself, willing her body not to tremble. If he experienced any measure of the heat sliding through her at the joining of their skin, he didn’t reveal it, his eyes crinkling at the corners with an enticing smile. How the woman who’d leapt from his carriage last night could have walked away from such an alluring man Susanna didn’t know, but she was thankful she had.

‘We do.’ He smiled with a wickedness to nearly make her faint. ‘Now do your best.’

Reluctantly, she let go of his hand and strode to the double doors, struggling to make each step sure and to not peek back at him. It felt too much like something Edwina would do in the presence of the Earl of Rapping, gazing longingly at him from across the theatre, making a fool of herself as she all but drooled over a man who barely acknowledged her existence. The same couldn’t be said for Mr Connor. Without turning she knew he watched her and it gave an even greater purpose to her goal. If she succeeded, there’d be no need for all this girlish mooning about. She’d have the rest of her life to stare at his sharp cheeks and strong nose. It wasn’t an unpleasant thought.

She gripped the brass handles hard, as much to steady herself against Mr Connor’s influence as to prepare to face her father, and opened the doors. Everything depended on the success of what she was about to do. ‘Father, please return, we have a few more things to discuss.’

‘You’ve both seen the sense in the proposal, then?’ Lord Rockland asked as he returned, appearing quite pleased with himself.

‘Not until you agree to raise the dowry to two thousand pounds.’

This startled her father out of his usual imperiousness. ‘One thousand pounds is a very generous offer.’

Clearly he hadn’t intended to engage in a negotiation, but to hand her over to Mr Connor with little trouble and no further thought. She wouldn’t allow him to get off so easily. He was the man who’d helped make her a bastard, now he’d make her a legitimate woman, but not without some pain.

‘One thousand, five hundred, and you’ll purchase the wine for Lady Rockland’s masque from Mr Connor and see to it we’re both invited so Mr Connor may make the connections necessary to ensure the growth of his trade.’

‘Lady Rockland will never allow such a thing,’ her father scoffed and she wasn’t sure which he dreaded most, his wife’s wrath or the thought of connecting himself so publicly with his potential merchant son-in-law.

‘If you agree to this, in writing, I’ll marry Mr Connor and create no stir which might result in a scandal where Lord Howsham is concerned.’

Tense silence settled over the room as her father mulled through the points of her demands. She slid a glance at Mr Connor. If her negotiations couldn’t open his eyes to the benefit of having her as a wife and a partner in his business, nothing could. His admiration for what she’d done showed itself in the impressed half-smile he offered her. Freedom was within her grasp.

‘All right, I’ll do what you’ve asked.’ Lord Rockland looked to Mr Connor. ‘Are these terms amenable to you?’

She waited, hands tight at her sides for him to answer. It wasn’t so much the thought of freedom which captured her now but the sun from the window illuminating his hair and falling over the tan wool of the jacket covering the width of his shoulders. She shivered a little at the sight of him, tall, solid, a rock of a man next to her father, yet with a humour to soften his edges. She’d witnessed his strength last night when he’d flattened Edgar, but he wasn’t all unthinking, uncompassionate brawn. When her pain had welled up during their discussion, sympathy had whispered through his eyes. For reasons she couldn’t explain, she knew he understood her loneliness, not in the mocking way Lord Howsham had pretended to understand, but in the way of a man who had shared something of the same kind of experience. If they married, she would come to know both the serious man and the one smiling at her father now, the one she desperately hoped would accept the offer.

‘They are,’ Mr Connor said at last. ‘I will marry Miss Lambert.’

Susanna unclenched her hands, relief sweeping through her followed by a new anxiety that tightened her neck. Her course was set, for good or for bad. Mr Connor was right, she knew nothing about him, but he was now her intended and no matter what, she must make the best of things, although being with him would surely be better than staying here.

Mr Connor turned to her, gracious in his surrender. He reached for her hand, bending his tall frame as he slid his fingers beneath hers and brought them to his lips. He pressed the firmness of them against her skin, raising a chill which raced up her arm to crash inside her against the fire his gentle touch ignited. She’d never experienced such a reaction to a man and she rocked a touch before the squeeze of his fingers steadied her.

‘I’ll call for you later this afternoon for a carriage ride,’ he offered, his breath whispering over the back of her hand.

‘Please do.’ She could barely utter the words through the dryness in her mouth. It wasn’t like her to want a man so powerfully, not after the awkward way Lord Howsham had introduced her to the physical side of love, but Mr Connor was no Lord Howsham. There was tenderness beneath his teasing, something she’d never experienced with the earl. This man wouldn’t be rough with her. It would be smooth and easy like sliding into the warm water of a bath.

‘Until this afternoon.’ At last he released her and with reluctance she lowered her hand, wanting him to take her from this house now, tonight, so she could delight in the fire filling his eyes and the comfort of his good nature.

Mr Connor left with more confidence than he’d entered with, when she’d watched him through the crack in the door, listening eagerly for what he might say.

‘Well, there’s one matter resolved,’ her father sighed with relief once they were alone. Then he turned to her, his expression clouding with the disapproval he’d meted out to her last night. ‘Now you’ve accepted Mr Connor, there’ll be no calling off the wedding, no matter what happens, or I’ll cast you out of this house without a penny. Do you understand?’

‘I do.’ She stared at Mr Connor’s empty glass and the faint outline of his lips along the rim. In her desperation to escape the Rockland house, she’d misjudged Lord Howsham. She hoped she hadn’t misjudged Mr Connor. If he proved even a tenth of the man she gauged him to be, he’d make a good husband. She’d do her best to deserve him and put all of the unfortunate incidents of the previous day, and her life, behind them.

Chapter Three

‘Was your meeting with Lord Rockland a success?’ Philip asked as Justin strode into his friend’s study.

‘You have no idea.’ He explained to Philip the events of the interview. When he was done, he leaned back against the French door, feeling the sun warming his back through the glass. ‘I suppose you think I’m crazy.’

‘I’m the last person to judge a man for taking a wife so quickly, or for the most ephemeral of reasons,’ Philip admitted from where he sat ramrod straight in the chair behind his desk. Philip had proposed to Mrs Rathbone after she’d held him at gunpoint demanding the return of some collateral. It’d been a strange start to a very successful marriage, one Justin hoped to emulate.

‘Mr Connor, your father would like to see you in the morning room,’ Chesterton, the Rathbones’ butler, announced with more apology than efficiency. This wasn’t the first time Justin’s father had come here in search of him.

Justin looked at the liquor on the side table before eschewing the drink. Smelling alcohol on his breath would only give his father another reason to criticise him. ‘I’ll be back.’